obrescia

The F-22 Raptor will probably enjoy a 3-5 year honeymoon unlike it's predecessors 20-30 years:

1) Primary main weapon range / Newton’s second law of motion.
2) ECM detection of mid-course update transmission(s) for main weapon.
3) Thermal signature(s) of platform & main weapon.
4) Daylight/Moonlight contrail(s) of platform & main weapon.
5) Super-cruise only at high altitude / ‘turbo-jet’ like engines.
6) Kinematics
7) Detect Radar Resolution Filtration

Item (1): requires (6) which effects (3), (4) and (5).

Primary weapon is a medium-range-class (motor burn time) missile. F-22 proponents recognize this but say Raptor fly’s so fast/high it (effectively extends range of) the AIM-120 into opponents. Issues are: combined closure rate (frontal aspect attacker and defender), pilot maneuverability limits because of speed/G-loads (if Raptor still moving +500 knots after “push”), thermal airframe heating due to air friction and hot exhaust exposure (during merge). Effectively F-22 presents itself as a target (also extended Flanker weapons envelop) by hurtling towards an opponent?

This whole this boils down to; if F-22 press their attack, closure rates are so high and weapons malfunctions such a regular occurrence (on both sides) that F-22 aircrews will be in a dogfight (merge) within moments after calling "fox-3". Against advanced Sukhoi Su-30, 33, 35 Flanker series fighter, this may be truly a nightmare scenario?

Item (2):
Flanker will most certainly be equipped with a Threat Warning System that listens for Raptors AIM-120 mid-course update (data burst/handshake transmission) after F-22 weapon release. From here two (2) things could happen:
First; Threat Warning System triggers automatic release of expendables (chaff/flares); see reference, pg 41 (a). Second, Flanker pilot initiates a defensive 'beaming' / 'beam-turn' / ‘Doppler turn’ maneuver to defeat AIM-120 shot; see reference, pg 36-37 (a) & pg 97 (b).

Item (3):
Development/advancement cycles for IRST systems could be orders of magnitude more frequent than possible F-22 airframe changes. Combined w/ IR R-77 missile and if Flanker radar (slaved to IRST), could IRST see something then point radar straight at F-22?

Item (4):
Plane/pilot/weapon telegraphs not only their presents, number and tactic(s), but behavior(s)?

Item (5):
Raptor proponents say it has the best thrust-weight ratio of any current/future fighter. Engine performance seems more akin to say a Mig-25 (afterburner behavior)? This seems plainly evident.

Item (6):
Kinematics is the study space-time relationship of a given motion without the action of forces; no friction (drag), no gravity. F-22 unusual 'speed-brake' scheme (taxing existing control surfaces with no additional aerodynamic ‘pop-out’ device) may reveal true nature as more akin to say Lockheed YF-12?

Item (7):
Cannot radar resolution be adjusted so every object from a raindrop/hailstone/dragonfly can be seen? Compute power may be available (now/soon) to filter any objects with non-organic-like-motion, like an aircraft?

Lastly:

All Flanker (Mig-31) really need to do is scare off our AWACS and tanker aircraft. Will the next war likely start and end during the flight time of say Ks-172 and/or Kh-31 class weapon(s)?

Reference(s):

a) Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units In Combat- Cooper, Tom; Bishop, Farzad; Osprey Publishing, 2004.

b) ...And Kill MiGs, Air to Air Combat From Vietnam to the Gulf War (3rd), Squadron/Signal Publications, Lou Drendel.

c) Air War South Atlantic - Ethell, Jeffrey L.; Price, Alfred - New York, NY, USA: MacMillan, 1983.

d) Iranian F-4 Fhantom II Units In Combat- Cooper, Tom; Bishop, Farzad; Osprey Publishing, 2003.

e) Arab Mig-19 and Mig-21 Units In Combat- Cooper, Tom; Nicolle, David; Osprey Publishing, 2004.

f) Wings of the Red Star; Box set, NTSC; Rating: Discovery Channel; VHS Release Date: March 17, 1998. Narration by Sir Peter Ustinov.

g) Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing - Clancy, Tom; Penguin Group, 1995.